Stacy Volnick is FAU’s current Interim President. Volnick took on this temporary role in January 2023 after former president John Kelly resigned. This transition sparked the search for a permanent university president, which was ultimately unsuccessful. While a new search is underway, FAU extended Volnick’s contract until the university hires a new president at the Board of Trustees meeting on Sept. 30. 

In the interview on Sept. 23, Volnick said that she can’t talk about the search or if she is considering running. However, she mentioned that her contract wouldn’t stop her from running for the permanent position. 

Before this, Volnick shared that she worked at FAU for 33 years in higher education. Most recently, she served as the chief operating officer and vice president of administrative affairs. She also noted that she has spent most of her life at FAU. In 1985, she came to the Boca Raton campus as a first-generation student earning her bachelor’s degree in communications. She went on to complete a master’s and a doctoral degree in educational leadership.

Volnick happily exclaimed that her tenure as interim president set a new precedent: “The last time someone served as an interim president of a university in the United States, not as long as I, was in 1804 at Harvard, so I have broken the record,” she explained at the Faculty Senate meeting on Oct. 7.

This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and quality.

Sofia De La Espriella: What made you say “yes” to a position with many uncertainties, and how do you plan around that?

Stacy Volnick: When I was asked to serve, I didn’t even hesitate in doing that. I knew the role well because of working so closely with former President Kelly. It’s not anything I thought about; I thought it was a time to serve, and it was my time to step up and do that. […] Without talking about the current search, we all know what the last search brought — a lot of “noise.” So, for me, I just literally come in every day and I know it seems like that would be difficult to do. But I ignore all of that noise and I just focus on doing every day what’s the best thing for the university. It‘s coming in every day and focusing on who your stakeholders are. It’s our students, first and foremost, faculty, staff and our community. It is doing what’s in their best interest, whether that’s six months, two years or however long that is.

Michael Cook: During your remaining time, for however long that is, what are your main priorities in serving the student body?

SV: We’ve really gone through a significant transition in terms of our student body since we first started out the strategic plan eight years ago. It was about getting better as a university, not necessarily bigger. But what we’ve seen over the last couple of years is we can do both at the same time. So, we can grow our student body and grow quality at the same time. That’s the quality of students and the quality of faculty. We saw with the Final Four the amount of attention that we got as a university. For example, It’s usually $200 million in earned media in any given March. That March for the Final Four was $1.9 billion. So that attention isn’t just on athletics; raising tides raises all boats. So what were we going to do with that attention to really showcase the entire university? Which is what we’ve done. Now, we’ve seen 47,000 applications for this fall semester, which is a 40 percent increase seen over last year. It’s the highest enrollment in our university’s history. In terms of priorities, it’s continuing on that momentum we have as a university on a national stage and really capitalizing on that in terms of growing enrollment. Investing in our student’s success and continuing to see our students thrive as it relates academically, with internships and post-graduate jobs as all of that is critical.

MC: Being just one person, you can’t address all the concerns of students. So, how do you connect with them and stay informed about what’s really happening on the ground?

SV: As you say, it’s not possible for one person, but we have a great leadership team […] I attend student events, and I talk to students in student government. It’s not possible for me to get out there and meet 30 or some thousand students. But I think the issues that we hear are housing, being a significant one, especially for students that want to live on campus and we’re addressing that. But anything that I can do to get out there and spend time with students is something that I look forward to. I think people often forget in higher education today why we’re here, and in my opinion, our mission is to transform lives through education.

MC: How can you improve in your role as the president?

SV: I think creating more hours in the day so that I can get out there. We can all improve, but I think it’s about interacting with students even more than I already do. 

SDLE: In several meetings we’ve covered, concerns have been raised about academic freedom and about how state politics can affect public universities like ours. As president, what steps are you taking to reassure students and faculty that academic freedom will be protected despite the university’s reliance on state funding?

SV: Well, I’m committed to academic freedom and freedom of speech. But what comes with that is responsibility, too, and that’s [the] responsibility of those exercising those freedoms. But, we also are part of the State University System. It’s not just what we can and cannot teach. There’s now laws about what we can and cannot do. So, I have an obligation to make sure that we’re in compliance with those laws. But with that said, I look at the fact that we are the most diverse university in the state. We are a Hispanic-serving institution. 40 percent of our students come from low-income families, and 30 percent are first-generation like myself, and yet, our students succeed all at the same pace. We have zero equity gaps. So that says something for who we are in terms of our DNA. So, while there are laws that say what we can and cannot teach, what we’re doing is providing the services that students need in order to be successful.

MC: Right now, academic freedom is being welded by the political climate and interference. For example, the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) cut that happened over a year ago. As president, you mentioned that FAU is very diverse, so how are you managing with that cut?

SV: Again, it’s about providing services for all students, so it’s not singling out a particular group of students, but it’s making sure that we have the academic support services […] So even with the legislation that cut out spending on DEI activities, it’s not had any negative impact on how our students are succeeding.

SDLE: As the president of any university, how do you manage against state politics? Let’s just forget about parties. If a state government gets very involved, passing certain laws can or cannot intervene with academic freedom but can still affect college students, like the bathroom law that some students were thinking of not coming to any of the Florida state universities anymore because of that. How do you manage something like this?

SV: I have no ability to change the laws that are in place. So we have, as you mentioned, the bathroom law. We have the DEI law. We have many, many things that are out there. So it’s about just trying, as I said, to continue to make students feel that there’s a sense of belonging here and that they’re welcome and that’s not just from me. That’s a whole team effort. I’m sure there are some students that feel apprehensive about coming here. But, when we see the increase in applications, clearly, I think they’re looking, in many cases, beyond some of those things and seeing the outcomes that we have as a university.

MC: Let’s say, hypothetically, I’m a student who’s affected by DEI, and I come to you. As you stated, as the president, you can’t change the laws, as it’s not in your authority. But how are you going to support me during that change?

SV: So my door is always open to meet with students. I mean, you need to do that compassionately. People need to feel they have a place to just go express their views, even if it doesn’t change the outcome. I can’t change the laws, but it’s just being open and compassionate to how someone else is feeling, and not just not closing the door to that interaction.

SDLE: The relationship between state politics and the state universities — how are they intertwined? What are your takes? 

SV: It is what it is and it’s not just happening in Florida; it’s happening in other places. So I think, as I said, if you come in every day and just focus on our students, you focus on the quality of education. You focus on recruiting top experts in the fields to study and to do research and to teach. You can still provide a high-quality education. You can give our students the tools they need to be successful, and you can do that with all of those challenges that we have in place.

MC: Whether you’re the future president or not in this upcoming search, what are your career goals after?

SV: I plan to go back if, depending upon the outcome of this. I’m still doing the chief operating officer role, so you may not know that but there is no one else doing that job. So, I am still doing that job and the president role. […] So I’m not going anywhere. FAU is in my blood, and I plan on being here for a while.

This story is in the UP’s latest print issue, “Historic Election,” which can be found in the distribution boxes around the Boca Raton campus or in the Student Union room 214.

Sofia De La Espriella is the Editor-in-Chief of the University Press. Email sdelaespriel2022@fau.edu or message her on Instagram @sofidelaespriella for information regarding this or other stories.

Michael Cook is the News Editor for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email michael17cook@gmail.com.